One of the most major TV stories to air as part of the 2024 TV schedule this week had to do with Joy Behar seemingly ‘outing’ her co-star Sara Haines On The View. The moment went viral in many places online, with headlines actually stating things like ‘Joy Behar Runs Her Big Mouth About Sara Haines’ Lesbian Experience’ or ‘Joy Behar Under Fire For Revealing Co-Host’s Past.’ But is that really what happened and, if yes, why wasn’t Joy Behar reprimanded following the incident?
The Real Story Behind Joy Behar Joking About Sara Haines’ College Relationship
If you watched The View this week, you may have noticed the moment Whoopi Goldberg called out co-host Sara Haines' parents in the audience. Behar brought up a story out of left field, asking her co-host, "I have to ask her a question: Are you going to bring up that lesbian relationship you said you had or not?"
Haines laughed at what happened and told her dad to grab "earmuffs" in relation to Behar bringing up a relationship that had apparently "happened at Smith College," but the narrative after the episode aired was that the host had outed her co-star.
While headlines were fairly inflammatory after the incident, an insider reveals this was not information that Sara Haines had shared privately with Ms. Behar and the other The View hosts. Instead, it was a story that had been bandied about freely during a previous episode of the hit longtime-daytime series.
Ms. Haines herself had brought it up on set during an off-air session with a studio audience. That's the big reason her co-host was “not reprimanded” for the incident, though it's not the first time Ms. Behar has been part of an awkward moment on The View.
How Does Sara Haines Reportedly Feel About The Incident?
Insiders close to The View have made it clear that the early reports that used language like “outing" Ms. Haines are not completely accurate to what happened. In fact, Haines shared the story of dating another woman during her college years during an earlier taping -- but it was during a moment in which The View was not filming, so it never made the air.
An insider reiterated to Page Six that the conversation had not been a "private" one, also saying:
Sara freely shared the story with the studio audience last week, although it was off camera. She did not have a private conversation about it with her co-hosts.
Interestingly, when the episode aired, it was pointed out the comment had been made previously, but as Sunny Hostin then noted, the difference is that Haines had shared the story in a semi-public forum. Now, however, the story is "on air" or fully on the record for anyone who watched the episode live or caught the quotes later on the Internet.
Ms. Behar has a history of being outspoken on The View, and was once even fired from the daytime talk show; this is another instance of an out-of-left-field comment happening. The moment comes just a few weeks after the 82-year-old host has spoken out about potentially leaving The View in coming years (2022 was once bandied about as the year she'd make her exit and we're well beyond that), making the timing of the awkward moment comment-worthy.
The good news? It doesn't sound like Haines is upset her personal history was shared, but it still does lead to questions about the ramifications of being too outspoken on live TV, particularly in an era when information is decimated online in the blink of an eye.